Who Finally Rides Vermithor In House Of The Dragon (According To The Books)

There are a ton of dragons in "House of the Dragon" (it is right there in the name, after all) — in fact, there are far more than there were in the original HBO series, "Game of Thrones," for which "House of the Dragon" is both a prequel and the network's first major spin-off. In "Game of Thrones," Emilia Clarke's Daenerys Targaryen, affectionately nicknamed "the Mother of Dragons," hatches three dragon eggs which spawn three dragons named Rhaegal, Viserion, and Drogon, but by that point in the Westerosi timeline, dragons are largely believed to be extinct. That's not so in "House of the Dragon," which focuses on the aptly named "Dance of the Dragons" — the war waged amongst the powerful, dragonriding Targaryen family for control of the Iron Throne — and has a whole bunch of dragons to spare. So what's the deal with Vermithor, one of the largest and most formidable dragons in all of Westeros?

Second only to Vhagar — the dragon stolen and subsequently ridden by Aemond Targaryen (played as an adult by Ewan Mitchell) in the first season of "House of the Dragon" — Vermithor is one of the most ancient and enormous dragons in the entirety of the Seven Kingdoms, and in both George R.R. Martin's book "Fire & Blood" (which chronicles the Dance of the Dragons) and Season 2 of "House of the Dragon," he plays a major part in the inter-family war. Here's who rides Vermithor in "House of the Dragon," who rode him before that, and exactly why Vermithor is so important to the story.

In George R.R. Martin's encyclopedic history, Princess Rhaena Targaryen — daughter of Aenys I Targaryen and Queen Alyssa Velaryon and sister to Jaehaerys Targaryen — is the one who brings Vermithor into the world, placing an egg in Jaehaerys' cradle (and one in the cradle of her sister Alysanne). Alysanne's dragon Silverwing and Jaehaerys' dragon Vermithor were, as a result, born around the same time. "It was Princess Rhaena, legend says, who put a dragon's egg in Princess Alysanne's cradle, just as she had for Prince Jaehaerys two years earlier," Martin writes. "If those tales be true, from those eggs came the dragons Silverwing and Vermithor, whose names would be writ so large in the annals of the years to come."

As for Vermithor's appearance, he's described as a massive bronze beast third only in size to Vhagar, who's still around in "House of the Dragon," and Balerion, an ancient dragon known as the "Black Dread" who died during the reign of King Jaehaerys I. (More on him in a second.) The first time we see Vermithor on-screen, it's during the Season 1 finale "The Black Queen," when Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith), consort and uncle to Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy), visits the imprisoned dragon in the depths of Dragonstone; though Vermithor growls when Daemon sings to him, it's said in "Fire & Blood" that Vermithor is open to taking a new rider by the time the Dance of the Dragons is ongoing. So who rode him first?

That would be Jaehaerys I Targaryen, who grew up with his trusted steed Vermithor and ultimately sat atop the beast to overthrow his uncle, the usurper Maegor (and his sister Rhaena's horrible husband). "Prince Jaehaerys was fourteen years old when he claimed the throne; a handsome youth, skilled with lance and longbow, and a gifted rider. More, he rode a great bronze-and-tan beast called Vermithor, and his sister Alysanne, a maid of twelve, commanded her own dragon, Silverwing." Together, Silverwing and Vermithor and their riders overcome a great many obstacles — and Jaehaerys and Alysanne eventually marry — and after Jaehaerys takes the Iron Throne from Maegor, he must face further strife with Lord Rogar Baratheon (largely because Alysanne was betrothed to his brother Ser Orryn Baratheon before secretly marrying her own brother).

This is all to illustrate precisely how Jaehaerys wields the power of Vermithor. When Lord Rogar returns to Jaehaerys' side after the two butt heads, Rogar asks if he could offer hostages to prove his loyalty to the king, at which point King Jaehaerys I showed Lord Rogar the great dragon eating a big pile of meat. "'He grows larger every day,' Jaehaerys said as he scratched the great wyrm under his jaw. 'Keep your nieces and your nephews, my lord. Why would I need hostages? I have your word, that is all that I require.' But Grand Maester Benifer heard the words he did not speak. 'Every man and maid and child in the stormlands is my hostage, whilst I ride him, His Grace said without saying,' wrote Benifer, 'and Lord Rogar heard him plain.'"

Ultimately, King Jaehaerys and Queen Alysanne — and their dragons — preside over the wedding of their granddaughter Princess Rhaenys Targaryen to Lord Corlys Velaryon (played by Eve Best and Steve Touissant in "House of the Dragon"). So what happens to Jaehaerys — and, by extension, Vermithor?

King Jaehaerys I Targaryen dies in 103 AC (in the Westerosi timeline), at which point Vermithor settles in the Dragonmont underneath Dragonstone with several other dragons, including Silverwing; ultimately, that's precisely where Rhaenyra and several "dragonseeds" (bastards with Valyrian blood) embark on a dangerous journey to see which of the aforementioned bastards might be able to actually ride and fight alongside a dragon to support Rhaenyra's cause. As "Fire & Blood" points out, Vermithor and two of his brethren, Seasmoke and Silverwing, are receptive to new riders because they've had riders before. So who does Vermithor choose? "Vermithor, the Old King's own dragon, bent his neck to a blacksmith's bastard, a towering man called Hugh the Hammer or Hard Hugh," the book declares.

We see this exact thing happen in the Season 2 episode of "House of the Dragon" titled "The Red Sowing," where Hugh Hammer, played by Kieran Bew onscreen, faces down Vermithor and lives to tell the tale. Without spoiling a ton of things to come on "House of the Dragon," Hugh and Vermithor aren't going anywhere for quite a while and will play a major role in the rest of the Dance of the Dragons ... and see some dark times ahead.

"House of the Dragon" is streaming on Max now.